

Up to 40 percent of consumers said they would choose a green savings account with an annual percentage yield (APY) that was 20 percent lower than a traditional savings account. We observed this in the case of a green savings offering, where consumer deposits are ring-fenced for lending activity to sustainable borrowers. However, our research shows that in many instances, consumers are willing to pay more for climate-linked financial products, especially in the context of savings, investing, and personal advice, if those products create measurable or demonstrable impact in exchange-but that can be a big “if.” One side effect of this approach is that concessionary products, because they are less financially accretive, tend not to scale into attractive businesses.

Many green financial products are designed and sold as “concessionary” offerings-for example, discounts on borrowing for electric vehicles or enhanced rewards on a credit card. Green offerings are a business opportunity for financial institutions, not a concession Likewise, interested consumers were not limited to the top end of the market-for instance, the balance size of savings accounts was roughly the same among consumers interested in green savings accounts as it was among those who weren’t interested in the accounts (Exhibit 3).Ģ. 1 “Nation’s urban and rural populations shift following 2020 Census,” US Census Bureau, March 10, 2023. For example, 24 percent of these interested customers live in rural areas, which is roughly equal to the share of the total US population living in rural areas, according to the US Census Bureau (Exhibit 2). The segment of interested consumers went well beyond high-earning city dwellers-in fact, consumer interest is not highly correlated with geography or income. Interested respondents are consumers who report interest in a climate-linked financial product.

We conducted an extensive survey in late 2022 of a representative sample of 3,000 American consumers aged 25 and older to gather their perspectives on consumer financial products with sustainability features, with a specific focus on climate-linked products.
